“Jeffrey admitted to fabricating people in some of these articles and giving some others false names. She no longer works for the Cape Cod Times,” the apology read.

The newspaper said questions arose around a Veterans Day article Jeffrey wrote in which she cited “Ronald Chipman and his family” in the lead. When the editors asked Jeffrey to help them find the family, she declined, saying that she had thrown away her notes, according to the letter from the editor.

The Times’ staff used public-records databases, voter rolls, attempted phone calls and even Facebook to verify the reporter’s missing sources. The newspaper said that the stories with “suspect sourcing were typically lighter fare.”